(TheRedWire.com) – Since President Joe Biden assumed office in January 2021, America has experienced a record-breaking surge in border encounters. If the rise of unlawful migration continues until the end of Biden’s first term, it could reach 9.7 million people, which is close to the population of New Jersey. Still, there is the data the government knows, and then there is the information it must assume.
Federal authorities can’t say with certainty how many illegal immigrants have crossed the southern border. Some evade the border patrol, and the statistics only count those processed, arrested, “encountered,” or picked up by sensors. The government’s data might reflect numbers much lower than the number of immigrants who actually entered the country.
Record Number of Migrants Crossing Into America’s Southern Border
For the fiscal year 2022, which ran from October 1, 2021, to September 30, 2022, Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) reported agents encountered 2,214,652 unlawful migrants. According to Fox News, approximately 600,000 more evaded federal agents and found their way into the United States in the fiscal year 2022 alone. That’s nearly 50,000 per month, on average, and over 1,500 per day. Since the beginning of the fiscal year 2021, the number of people who got away from CBP tallied nearly 1 million immigrants.
The problem is growing so out of control that even former President Bill Clinton recently said there is a “limit to how many migrants any society can take without severe disruption.”
Still, American Enterprise Institute scholar Mark Perry said unlawful crossings could “easily” reach 12 million by the time Biden’s first term ends in January 2025. An anonymous Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official told the Daily Caller News Foundation that CBP finds itself stuck between the administration’s political agenda and Mexico, which he said was profiting from the surge.
Why Are Some Illegal Migrants Evading Officials?
Over the last nearly two years, the media reported stories of migrants willingly turning themselves into Border Patrol Agents. Still, according to former ICE Director Tom Homan, many are taking advantage of the administration’s generous policies. He said it was because many have criminal records.
Homan said many sought to avoid the government’s fingerprinting policy even though they forfeit the ability to make asylum requests, obtain free transportation into the country, or procure work visa applications.
Now, the Biden administration is pushing to end Title 42, a pandemic provision that allows the government to take emergency action and suspend asylum requests during a health crisis. Ultimately, while Title 42 remains in effect, the policy requires the government to return illegal immigrants to Mexico. The White House has attempted to end the program for nearly a year. Yet, several Republican states have won lawsuits to ensure the measure remains in place, and now the US Supreme Court is set to decide the matter.
Still, the Biden administration hasn’t recommended any new solutions to solve the problem at the southern border. Nonetheless, officials believe lifting Title 42 could cause thousands of illegal immigrants to try to come into the country every day.
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